GREEN had hoped to see supporters take up the share issue to the tune of around £10m but insists he's delighted with the result even though it falls short of his figure.

CHARLES GREEN last night insisted the Rangers share issue was a big success – even though fans will struggle to meet half of his £10million target for them.

The Ibrox chief executive ring-fenced £10m of shares for punters in the flotation, which ends at 1pm today.

Only between £3m and £5m had been brought in from fans by last night.

But the overall target for the share issue was over £20m and Green insists that will be reached due to an impressive response from institutional investors.

He said: “The indications are there’s something like £3m-£5m there (from fans) so we’ll see what happens.

“In any amount it is a huge success. We said we wanted a figure over £20m and we have achieved that.”

Green also took another swipe at HMRC as he blamed them for the “awful” timing of the flotation.

And he claimed some supporters had only received prospectuses late last week due to printing problems.

Speaking on Clyde 1’s Superscoreboard, he said: “It’s before Christmas and the timing is awful.

“The main reason we are doing it is because in May when I was unveiled as the buyer of Rangers I made a promise to fans we would list this year and they would be allowed to buy shares.

“We’ve raised a substantial amount from institutional investors and the money is still pouring in from fans.

“I have to say, in support of the fans’ position, there have been issues with the documentation that came out from the printers.

“The company secretary here only got his copy on Thursday. Some of the prospectuses and application forms that were posted didn’t reach families in Glasgow until Wednesday or Thursday. That denied precious time.

“We tried to get this done earlier. I’m frustrated that we lost two months at the start of the process expecting a CVA to go through but HMRC at the last minute decided not to go ahead with it.

“Then we’ve seen recently the Big Tax Case thrown out. I’m particularly frustrated that if we had been allowed a free rein this could have been done months earlier.

“Yet again it’s the poor fans who are having to stump up at the last minute.”

Boss Ally McCoist has invested in the club and last night revealed he had also given his sons the gift of Rangers for Christmas.

McCoist, who declined to reveal the extent of his investment, said: “All I can say is I’ve bought shares for my family – I have five boys. I don’t know if that’s a vote of confidence or not but I imagine a lot of fans will make it a family thing.

“I’ve been told that, as an employee, I’m not legally allowed to say buying shares is a good or a bad idea.”